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ADBRESSED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 



BY DR. W. E. GUTHRIE. 




PHILADELPHIA : 

JOHN PENINGTON & SONS; 

127 SOUTH SEVENTH STREET. 

1865. 



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ADDRESSED TO THE AMERICA>.' I'EOI'I.E. 



BY DK. AV. E. GUTHRIE. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
J H X P E N I X G T X «fc SONS, 

127 SOUTH SEVE>'TH STREET. 

186:). 






NOTE 



Tliis Oration, first delivered before the American 
Literary Union, on tlie 2.5tli of April, lias been sent to 
Secretary W. H. Seward, with the letter printed here 
as an introduction, on the 4th of May last, the day of 
the burial of President Abraham Lincoln, in Spring- 
iield. 



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/ INTRODUCTION. 

tif • 

LETTER. 

Philadelphia, May 4, I860, 

To Hox. ^^^ h. s * * * * * . 

Sir: The accompanying address was written as a 
tribute to tlie nieniory of an lionest man. 

More dismayed than surprised at the news of the 
outrage, I felt that tliougli born on a far land, and 
living in the shade, a stranger to that alluring activity 
which characterizes the American people, in sharing 
their perplexity and sufferings, I had identified myself 
with them, and that their hour of trial was also mine. 
These lines have then been written as a solace to the 
sentiment of deep sorrow under which the death of 
that innocent man had bowed me. Reading them in 
the intimacy of the fireside, I felt that, as imperfect 
as they may be, in them was perhaps something to 
console a few of those, who, in the bottom of their 
hearts, silently shed tears on the death of that just man. 

You, his friend and counsellor, who have held the 
helm amidst that conflict of home and foreign inter- 
ests, as well as jealous ambitions, all united to under- 
mine and bring the downfall of a free government ; 
whose first words after sharing as a victim in the 
tragical event, were: "For me, I care not— but they 
should have been more watchful for their President." 
Since it is not yet permitted you to speak on business, 
I hope I do not intrude upon your time in asking you 
to receive the offering of the enclosed manuscript, beg- 
ging that, if its contents seem to you deserving, you 



also send the second enclosed copy to the President, 
the chosen of the people, to whom is entrusted the 
realization of tlie work. 

If in the reading of these lines of consolation they 
find their way to the heart; if a tear comes to moisten 
the eyelid, my ambition will be satisfied, 

I conclude by uniting in sympathy with the satisfac- 
tion wliidi tfie liope of your recovery, and that of your 
son, gives universally. 

I)u. W. E. G ******. 



ORATIOX. 



Americans! you have lost your great man! your 
honest man ! ! 

Him who, rendering no worship eitlier to gold or 
ambition, in the midst of destructive passions, of cor- 
ruption, and the abuse of all earthly blessings, did re- 
main pure, master of himself; his great heart always 
open to forgiveness; never judging hastily; always 
perfectly sober in all his acts, whether public or private. 

Thought, emanating from that great soul, untar- 
nished by any personal interest or prejudice, glowed 
upon his honest countenance, broke upon his lips in 
friendly words, in parables, never wounding even 
when it reproved. 

You have lost your great man ! 

Hinr who possessed the, true spirit of Christ, the 
spirit of the Gospel ; that spirit which A'ivifies, which 
regenerates; that spirit which, without wounding, 
penetrates the soul of the sinner, and soon the sinner 
repents, feels himself renovated, open to new senti- 
ments, and the miracle is performed ! 

In his youth, retired in the primeval forest, under 
those lofty trees, in the midst of that profound silence, 
his youthful soul had opened, had nurtured itself, had 
enlarged; silent, thoughtful, that sweet and living 



music, the rustling of loaves mingled with the song of 
birds, came lightly murmuring like a soothing har- 
mony, and charmed his senses without disturbing his 
tlioughts. He seemed to perceive, through those green 
l)owers which the rays of the sun were caressing, his 
nation, his ]:>eople, his own, in the distant futui'e, de- 
livered of tlicir chains, joyously entering the fields 
promised to a nation regenerated by liberty, equality, 
fraternity . . . })y the word of Jesus. His mind 
embraced the multitude of cliildren, innocent and 
beautiful, sporting and singing under those bowers 
which sift the light .... But the wind rises, day 
disappears, liglitning alone rends the dark clouds and 
spreads over nature, upon these onee happy faces, the 
hloody rays of a sinister light. 

Suddenly smitten, these proud giants of the forest, 
that have long disdained the crowd of young saplings, 
their equals, their brothers, are mastered by the tem- 
pest and the ambitious winds; and their impending 
downfall threatens Avitli destruction all which is below 
them. 

The man inclines his pensive, illumined brow, otter- 
ing to (lod his humble prayer, he raises his arms, the 
axe describes a circle, the blow resounds, repeated in 
tlie echoes, mingled with the moanings of all sufferers 
in the plain. The haughty, in Ids disdain, smiles. The 
axe redoubles, its measured and patient blows excite 
the ra^e, the hissings of a thousand reptiles ct)ncealed 
amidst tlie roots. But the presumptuous falls at last ! 
and the storm disappears, a pure sky covers again the 
fore-st, soon the M'ounds made in its fall will heal. 



Reclined on that tree which a lew moments before 
was a menacing giant, hut which now lies expiring 
soon to disappear forever, the man wipes the sweat 
which runs from his hrow, and his axe rests at his feet. 

But soon retracing the space which his mind era- 
braced, a revelation descends into that pensive soul: 
that profound silence of the forest, In which he loved to 
retire, it is the thought of humanity ! 

Those sweet songs, that soft harmony, those glades 
of a pure sky which his eye loves to find, to search 
through the verdant foliage, whicli a vivifying sun 
lightens, are the vistas of a promised land, the King- 
dom of God on earth, where men renewed, freed from 
their chains, from their vices, will adore the God of 
mercy .... in imitating Him ! 

That storm is the tempest of ouv passions, our vict-s 
and our crimes ! 

That tree with the haughty summit, is the In-utal 
mastership of the tyrant, of the trader, of the slave- 
holder ! 

The woodman rises, his face beams with laitli, ho 
thrusts aside that axe now useless, and directs his steps 
toward the cities to study tlie springs wliich govern 
that great aggregate, which is decorated Avitli tiie name 
of Republic. A new David, he marches to oppose his 
faith to the terrible armies of the enemies of God ! 

Weep ! You have lost your great man ! 

You have lost him who, after having deeply studied 
the mechanism, as well as the object, of your societies, 
always enlightening, never Imposing his opinions, in 
all his contests against those giants, your fetters, your 



vices and your prejudices ; to save your liberties, offered 
but the truth, innocently though tersely expressed, as 
a small round stone cast in their path, causing those 
false nobilities to stumble and fall. 

You have lost him who thought that, if a severe jus- 
tice may restrain crimes, rendering them more diffi- 
cult and more rare, meekness and honesty alone pene- 
trate hearts, melt to repentance, and, by inviting back 
to the path of duty, heal the disease itself. 

You have lost him who, holding in his hand the 
power deposited in it by the people, never took a de- 
cision ]>ut when convinced, never sided with the 
strong against the feeble . . . though the feeble were 
his enemy. 

Him wlio dared to be honest! And who yielded to 
the opinion, to the })ressure of the mass, as much only 
as yielding would convert that mass itself to its best 
interests. 

Him who dared to contend against you, that you 
might have time, by a riper and more sober thought, 
to cover yourselves with glory, in foregoing vengeance 
against your misguided brothers ; wlien, had he obeyed 
your (damors, you would have dishonored yourselves, 
dipping your wrathful and revengeful hands in blood 
that need not be shed. 

Weep ! You have lost tliat great man Avhom circum- 
stances had not altered! 

Him who, to the summit of power had remained as 
simple as he was Avhen a child, playing with his axe in 
the forest, under the sluide of those mighty oaks ! 

Him of whom more than of any other among you 



you may say : "NiMl himiani a me ciUenum puto."* No- 
thing human was stranger to him ! 

You have lost him who, knowing the strength and 
root of the disease, despaired not nor doubted the 
triumpli of good, him who, foreseeing the fate that 
miglit be his, has loved you, has kept himself before the 
Almighty, ready to give his life for his flock, and did 
seal his work with his blood. 

Weep ! You have lost your great man ! your honest 
man ! your father ! Weep ! . . . . 

You had to lose him to know him ! 

The blood of martyrs is always fruitful ! . . . . May 
God permit that from that innocent blood may spring 
up the regeneration of the American people ! 

Let us descend into our souls and ask, which one of 
us will throw the first stone at guilt? 

Oh ! Americans ! come back to God ! Overthrow the 
altar of the golden calf! that your rich shall be, no 
more, those who have the most usurped, but those who 
have found grace, laboring to the forthcoming of the 
Kingdom of God on earth. 



iB S 72 



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